Skip to main content

Late Holocene thermokarst variability inferred from diatoms in a lake sediment record from the Lena Delta, Siberian Arctic

Journal of Paleolimnology volume 49, pages 155–170 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Thermokarst lakes in the Siberian Arctic contain sediment archives that can be used for paleoenvironmental inference. Until now, however, there has been no study from the inner Lena River Delta with a focus on diatoms. The objective of this study was to investigate how the diatom community in a thermokarst lake responded to past limnogeological changes and what specific factors drove variations in the diatom assemblage. We analysed fossil diatom species, organic content, grain-size distribution and elemental composition in a sediment core retrieved in 2009 from a shallow thermokarst lake in the Arga Complex, western Lena River Delta. The core contains a 3,000-year record of sediment accumulation. Shifts in the predominantly benthic and epiphytic diatom species composition parallel changes in sediment characteristics. Paleoenvironmental and limnogeological development, inferred from multiple biological and sedimentological variables, are discussed in the context of four diatom zones, and indicate a strong relation between changes in the diatom assemblage and thermokarst processes. We conclude that limnogeological and thermokarst processes such as lake drainage, rather than direct climate forcing, were the main factors that altered the aquatic ecosystem by influencing, for example, habitat availability, hydrochemistry, and water level.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

References

  • ACIA (2004) Impacts of a warming Arctic—Arctic climate impact assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson NJ (2000) Diatoms, temperature and climatic change. Eur J Phycol 35:307–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreev A, Tarasov P, Schwamborn G, Ilyashuk B, Ilyashuk E, Bobrov A, Klimanov V, Rachold V, Hubberten HW (2004) Holocene paleoenvironmental records from Nikolay Lake, Lena River Delta, Arctic Russia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 209:197–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andreev AA, Schirrmeister L, Tarasov PE, Ganopolski A, Brovkin V, Siegert C, Wetterich S, Hubberten HW (2011) Vegetation and climate history in the Laptev Sea region (Arctic Siberia) during Late Quaternary inferred from pollen records. Quat Sci Rev 30:2182–2199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Are F, Reimnitz E (2000) An overview of the Lena River Delta setting: geology, tectonics, geomorphology, and hydrology. J Coast Res 16:1083–1093

    Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Kneen MJ (1982) The use of electronically counted microspheres in absolute diatom analysis. Limnol Oceanogr 27:184–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battarbee RW, Jones VJ, Flower RJ, Cameron NG, Bennion H, Carvalho L, Juggins S (2001) Diatoms. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB, Last WM (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 155–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennion H, Sayer CD, Tibby J, Carrick HJ (2010) Diatoms as indicators of environmental change in shallow lakes. In: Smol JP, Stoermer EF (eds) The Diatoms: Application for the Environmental and Earth Sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 152–173

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bigler C, Hall RI (2002) Diatoms as indicators of climatic and limnological change in Swedish Lapland: a 100-lake calibration set and its validation for paleoecological reconstructions. J Paleolimnol 27:97–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birks HJB (2010) Numerical methods for the analysis of diatom assemblage data. In: Smol JP, Stoermer EF (eds) The diatoms: applications for the environmental and earth science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 23–54

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Biskaborn BK, Herzschuh U, Bolshiyanov D, Savelieva L, Diekmann B (2012) Environmental variability in northeastern Siberia during the last ~13,300 yr inferred from lake diatoms and sediment-geochemical parameters. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 329–330:22–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boike J, Wille C, Abnizova A (2008) Climatology and summer energy and water balance of polygonal tundra in the Lena River Delta, Siberia. J Geophys Res 113:G03025. doi:10.1029/2007JG000540

  • Bradbury JP, Leyden B, Salgadolabouriau M, Lewis WM, Schubert C, Binford MW, Frey DG, Whitehead DR, Weibezahn FH (1981) Late Quaternary environmental history of Lake Valencia, Venezuela. Science 214:1299–1305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronk Ramsey C (2009) Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Cremer H (1999) Distribution patterns of diatom surface sediment assemblages in the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean). Mar Micropaleontol 38:39–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cremer H, Wagner B, Melles M, Hubberten HW (2001) The postglacial environmental development of Raffles So, East Greenland: inferences from a 10,000 year diatom record. J Paleolimnol 26:67–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czudek T, Demek J (1970) Thermokarst in Siberia and its influence on the development of lowland relief. Quat Res 1:103–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devlin JE, Finkelstein SA (2011) Local physiographic controls on the responses of Arctic lakes to climate warming in Sirmilik National Park, Nunavut, Canada. J Paleolimnol 45:23–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas MSV, Smol JP (1995) Paleolimnological significance of observed distibution patterns of chrysophyte cysts in Arctic pond environments. J Paleolimnol 13:79–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas MSV, Smol JP (2010) Freshwater diatoms as indicators of environmental change in the high Arctic. In: Smol JP, Stoermer EF (eds) The diatoms: application for the environmetal and earth sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 249–266

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Enters D, Kirilova E, Lotter AF, Lucke A, Parplies J, Jahns S, Kuhn G, Zolitschka B (2010) Climate change and human impact at Sacrower See (NE Germany) during the past 13,000 years: a geochemical record. J Paleolimnol 43:719–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frahm JP, Frey W (2004) Moosflora. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey W, Frahm JP, Fischer E, Lobin W (1995) Die Moos-und Farnpflanzen Europas. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Grigoriev NF (1960) The temperature of permafrost in the Lena Delta basin-Deposit conditions and properties of the permafrost in Yakutia. Yakutsk (in Russian)

  • Grigoriev MN, Imaev VS, Imaeva LP, Kozmin BM, Kunitskiy VV, Lationov AG, Mikulenko KI, Skryabin RM, Timirshin KV (1996) Geology, seismicity and cryogenic processes in the arctic areas of Western Yakutia. Yakut Scientific Centre SD RAS, Yakutsk, p 84

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimm EC (1987) Coniss—a Fortran-77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster-analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Comput Geosci 13:13–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton-Taylor J, Smith E, Davison W, Sugiyama M (2005) Resolving and modeling the effects of Fe and Mn redox cycling on trace metal behavior in a seasonally anoxic lake. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 69:1947–1960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hay MB, Michelutti N, Smol JP (2000) Ecological patterns of diatom assemblages from Mackenzie Delta lakes, Northwest Territories, Canada. Can J Bot 78:19–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzschuh U, Zhang CJ, Mischke S, Herzschuh R, Mohammadi F, Mingram B, Kurschner H, Riedel F (2005) A late Quaternary lake record from the Qilian Mountains (NW China): evolution of the primary production and the water depth reconstructed from macrofossil, pollen, biomarker, and isotope data. Glob Planet Change 46:361–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herzschuh U, Bolshiyanov D, Pestryakova L, Boersma M, Abramova K, Zubrzycki S, Biskaborn BK, Klemm J, Vakhrameeva P (2009) Ecological state of permafrost lakes and their catchment along a north–south transect in north-central Yakutia: past and present. Rep Pol Mar Res 600:22–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill MO (1973) Diversity and evenness—unifying notation and its consequences. Ecology 54:427–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilton J, Lishman JP, Allen PV (1986) The dominant processes of sediment distribution and focusing in a small, eutrophic, monomictic lake. Limnol Oceanogr 31:125–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hua Q, Barbetti M (2004) Review of tropospheric bomb 14C data for carbon cycle modeling and age calibration purposes. Radiocarbon 46:1273–1298

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivorra N, Barranguet C, Jonker M, Kraak M, Admiraal W (2002) Metal-induced tolerance in the freshwater microbenthic diatom Gomphonema parvulum. Environ Pollut 116:147–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krammer K, Lange-Bertalot H (1986–1991) Bacillariophyceae Band 2/2. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart

  • Kumke T, Kienel U, Weckström J, Korhola A, Hubberten HW (2004) Inferred Holocene paleotemperatures from diatoms at Lake Lama, Central Siberia. Arct Antarct Alp Res 36:624–634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laing TE, Smol JP (2003) Late Holocene environmental changes inferred from diatoms in a lake on the western Taimyr Peninsula, northern Russia. J Paleolimnol 30:231–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laing TE, Pienitz R, Smol JP (1999a) Freshwater diatom assemblages from 23 lakes located near Norilsk, Siberia: a comparison with assemblages from other circumpolar treeline regions. Diatom Res 14:285–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laing TE, Rühland KM, Smol JP (1999b) Past environmental and climatic changes related to tree-line shifts inferred from fossil diatoms from a lake near the Lena River Delta, Siberia. Holocene 9:547–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lange-Bertalot H, Metzeltin D (1996) Indicators of oligotrophy. Iconographia Diatomologica, vol 2. Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein

  • Lange-Bertalot H, Hofmann G, Werum M (2011) Diatomeen im Süßwasser-Benthos von Mitteleuropa. Gantner Verlag, Rugell

  • Lotter AF, Bigler C (2000) Do diatoms in the Swiss Alps reflect the length of ice-cover? Aquat Sci 62:125–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyers PA, Teranes JL (2002) Sediment organic matter. In: Last WM, Smol JP (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Physical and geochemical methods, vol 2. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 239–269

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Michelutti N, Hay M, Marsh P, Lesack L, Smol J (2001) Diatom changes in Lake Sediments from the Mackenzie Delta, NWT, Canada: paleohydrological applications. Arct Antarct Alp Res 33:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michelutti N, Wolfe AP, Briner JP, Miller GH (2007) Climatically controlled chemical and biological development in Arctic lakes. J Geophys Res 112:G03002. doi:10.1029/2006JG000396

  • Morgenstern A, Grosse G, Günther F, Fedorova I, Schirrmeister L (2011) Spatial analyses of thermokarst lakes and basins in Yedoma landscapes of the Lena Delta. Cryosph Discuss 5:1495–1545

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murton JB (1996) Thermokarst-lake-basin sediments, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, western arctic Canada. Sedimentology 43:737–760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murton JB (2001) Thermokarst sediments and sedimentary structures, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, western Arctic Canada. Glob Planet Change 28:175–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muster S, Langer M, Heim B, Westermann S, Boike J (2012) Subpixel heterogeneity of ice-wedge polygonal tundra: a multi-scale analysis of land cover and evapotranspiration in the Lena River Delta, Siberia. Tellus B 64:17301

  • Paul CA, Rühland KM, Smol JP (2010) Diatom-inferred climatic and environmental changes over the last 9,000 years from a low Arctic (Nunavut, Canada) tundra lake. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 291:205–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pestryakova LA, Subetto DA, Gerasimova MA, Andreev A, Diekmann B, Popp S (2008) Environmental evolution in central Yakutia during the Holocene. Izvestia Rossiis-kogo Geographicheskogo Obshestva 140:54–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Pestryakova LA, Herzschuh U, Wetterich S, Ulrich M (2012) Present-day variability and Holocene dynamics of permafrost-affected lakes in central Yakutia (Eastern Siberia) inferred from diatom records. Quat Sci Rev 51:56–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pisaric MFJ, MacDonald GM, Cwynar LC, Velichko AA (2001a) Modern pollen and conifer stomates from north-central Siberian lake sediments: their use in interpreting late quaternary fossil pollen assemblages. Arct Antarct Alp Res 33:19–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pisaric MFJ, MacDonald GM, Velichko AA, Cwynar LC (2001b) The lateglacial and postglacial vegetation history of the northwestern limits of Beringia, based on pollen, stomate and tree stump evidence. Quat Sci Rev 20:235–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porinchu DF, Cwynar LC (2002) Late-Quaternary history of midge communities and climate from a tundra site near the lower Lena River, Northeast Siberia. J Paleolimnol 27:59–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryves D, Juggins S, Fritz S, Battarbee R (2001) Experimental diatom dissolution and the quantification of microfossil preservation in sediments. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 172:99–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schirrmeister L, Grosse G, Schnelle M, Fuchs M, Krbetschek M, Ulrich M, Kunitsky V, Grigoriev M, Andreev A, Kienast F, Meyer H, Babiy O, Klimova I, Bobrov A, Wetterich S, Schwamborn G (2011) Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental records from the western Lena Delta, Arctic Siberia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 299:175–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwamborn G, Rachold V, Grigoriev M (2002a) Late Quaternary sedimentation history of the Lena Delta. Quat Int 89:119–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwamborn GJ, Dix JK, Bull JM, Rachold V (2002b) High-resolution seismic and ground penetrating radar-geophysical profiling of a thermokarst lake in the western Lena Delta, northern Siberia. Permafr Perigl Proc 13:259–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahgedanova M (2002) Climate at present and in the historical past. In: Shahgedanova M (ed) The physical geography of northern Eurasia. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 70–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Smol JP (1985) The ratio of diatom frustules to chrysophycean statospores: a useful paleolimnological index. Hydrobiologia 123:199–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smol JP, Douglas MSV (2007) Crossing the final ecological threshold in high Arctic ponds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:12395–12397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tepper J, Hyatt J (2011) Holocene trophic state history of a subtropical blackwater lake, South Georgia, USA. J Paleolimnol 45:9–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ter Braak CJF, Smilauer P (2002) Canoco reference manual and Canodraw for windows user’s guide: software for canonical community ordination (version 4.5). Microcomputer Power, Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Tishkov A (2002) Boreal Forests. In: Shahgedanova M (ed) The physical geography of northern Eurasia. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 217–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich M, Grosse G, Chabrillat S, Schirrmeister L (2009) Spectral characterization of periglacial surfaces and geomorphological units in the Arctic Lena Delta using field spectrometry and remote sensing. Remote Sens Environ 113:1220–1235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Huissteden J, Berrittella C, Parmentier FJW, Mi Y, Maximov TC, Dolman AJ (2011) Methane emissions from permafrost thaw lakes limited by lake drainage. Nat Clim Change 1:119–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker HJ (1998) Arctic deltas. J Coast Res 14:718–738

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanner H, Solomina O, Grosjean M, Ritz SP, Jetel M (2011) Structure and origin of Holocene cold events. Quat Sci Rev 30:3109–3123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetterich S, Kuzmina S, Andreev AA, Kienast F, Meyer H, Schirrmeister L, Kuznetsova T, Sierralta M (2008) Palaeoenvironmental dynamics inferred from late Quaternary permafrost deposits on Kurungnakh Island, Lena Delta, Northeast Siberia, Russia. Quat Sci Rev 27:1523–1540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wischnewski J, Mackay AW, Appleby PG, Mischke S, Herzschuh U (2011) Modest diatom responses to regional warming on the southeast Tibetan Plateau during the last two centuries. J Paleolimnol 46:215–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zamaloa MD, Tell G (2005) The fossil record of freshwater micro-algae Pediastrum Meyen (Chlorophyceae) in southern South America. J Paleolimnol 34:433–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the POLMAR Graduate School. Our laboratory analyses were conducted at the AWI, at the GeoForschungsZentrum in Potsdam and at the University of Potsdam, in cooperation with Roland Oberhänsli. We thank John Smol for providing helpful literature. We are also grateful to all participants in the helicopter expedition for their dedication. Special thanks go to two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the quality of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany

    B. K. Biskaborn, U. Herzschuh, R. Zibulski & B. Diekmann

  2. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

    D. Bolshiyanov

  3. St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    L. Savelieva

Authors
  1. B. K. Biskaborn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. U. Herzschuh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Bolshiyanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. L. Savelieva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R. Zibulski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. B. Diekmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. K. Biskaborn.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Biskaborn, B.K., Herzschuh, U., Bolshiyanov, D. et al. Late Holocene thermokarst variability inferred from diatoms in a lake sediment record from the Lena Delta, Siberian Arctic. J Paleolimnol 49, 155–170 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-012-9650-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-012-9650-1

Keywords

  • Diatoms
  • Aquatic ecosystem
  • Arga Complex
  • Paleolimnology
  • Paleoecology
  • Lake sediment core